---------- Forwarded message ---------- *ME boycott after offending cartoons, hit Danish companies sales * <http://geo.tv/audio/> COPENHAGEN: A leading Danish exporter to Arab countries announced its first job cuts in reaction to a boycott of the Scandinavian country's goods over the publication of offending cartoons.
Arla Foods, said it would lay off 125 staff in its northern Danish factories, adding that a further 40 people would see their working hours reduced. It is also Denmark's biggest exporter to Arab countries, accounting for one-third of total Danish exports there. Arla, for which eight percent of its total production is at stake, has been the group hardest hit by boycotts of Danish products across the Muslim world, where anger over the publication, originally in a Danish newspaper, of 12 blasphemous cartoons. Gulf countries, especially Saudi Arabia, have followed boycott calls, and the populous northern African countries have also heeded the call to shun Danish goods. Outside Europe, the Middle East is main export destination, with Saudi Arabia as the largest single market. The company said that no job cuts were planned in the Middle East, including in Saudi Arabia, where the company employs 800 staff in a Riyadh factory, where production has been halted. An extension of the factory there had, however, been put on ice. Denmark exported goods worth nine billion kroner (1.2 billion euros) to Arab countries in 2004, according to the foreign ministry. Although this represents just 1 to 1.5 percent of total Danish exports, the lost income is taking a big chunk out of the businesses concerned. In Gulf countries alone, the boycott has led to lost sales of 100 million dirhams (27.2 million dollars), according to Thomas Bay, Denmark's consul in Dubai. ------------------------------ -- G. Waleed Kavalec ------------------------- Why are we all in this handbasket and where is it going so fast? http://www.kavalec.com/thisisislam.swf [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/TXWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Save Aceh now! visit http://www.pusatkrisisaceh.or.id Click English section for contact Islam Relief Organizations Want to learn about Islam and Christian? visit: http://come.to/christian-islam Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/muslim/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
